US president lobbying G7 leaders for Russia to be readmitted – key US politics stories from Monday 16 June
Donald Trump has told G7 leaders gathered for its summit in Canada that removing Russia from the former G8 was a mistake, and is lobbying for the country to be readmitted. Russia was thrown out of the group after it invaded Crimea in 2014.
Trump’s defence of Russian leader Vladimir Putin came a day before he was scheduled to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the fringes of the summit.
However, that meeting appears unlikely to go ahead after the White House said in a statement that the US president was leaving the summit early due to ongoing developments in the Middle East.
Here are the key stories at a glance:
